Gary Brown: In a cookin' rut? Try ostrich

Monday

Apr 28, 2008 at 12:01 AMApr 28, 2008 at 6:49 PM

If I invited you over for a special dinner, celebrating something, and had traditional appetizers and beverages, would you down the main course if I announced that it was "you know, the big gawky looking bird, that sticks its head down into the sand?"

Gary Brown

Would you eat ostrich tenderloin?

If I invited you over for a special dinner, celebrating something, and had traditional appetizers and beverages -- plenty of drinks – would you down the main course if I announced that it was "you know, the big gawky looking bird, that sticks its head down into the sand?"

I doubt it. You'd hesitate, at the least, and play with it on your plate. If you already had dug in, you might gag.

On the other hand, some of the more daring among you could welcome the chance to try a new and out-of-the-ordinary food. It would excite you.

That's what www.MarxFoods.com is finding out as it markets online a host of "alternative" meat products for "adventurous cooks and eaters, or really anyone who is in a cooking rut and wants to try something new."

"I think people don't realize how many delicious and healthy alternatives there are to typical meat cuts or aren't aware that you don't have to go to a restaurant to eat specialty meats," said Justin Marx, president of Marx Foods.

The list

Then Marx offered his company's "Top 10 Tenderloins." It's a list that starts with wild boar tenderloin for $11.95 a pound, which Marx offered as a "lean and healthy alternative to pork" that has a "slightly sweet and nutty flavor" and is "humanely trapped in Texas Hill Country."